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Walk and Bike for Life Join BREC to Discuss the Future of Trail Development On Monday, Jan. 26 at 6 p.m. in BREC's Ballroom, 6201 Florida Blvd., the BREC Foundation is welcoming world-renowned trail planner, Gil Penalosa, Executive Direc

I was driving down Third Street about a week ago and noticed some signs in the windows of the building on the corner of Third and Florida Blvd., the building with the Coca Cola sign on it. The signs were "coming soon" signs and had the name of the bar/club, and indicated that they would have live music, Sunday brunch, etc. I think the signs said it would open in the fall of 2008. I drove by there yesterday and the signs were gone. Did anyone catch the name of the club before they took the signs down? Anyone know the plans for that building?

I will do my best to make it to the meeting. I put it on my calendar.

Here is a link to the LaVie website. There is a fairly detailed slide show that provides a lot of info about the project. Very, very impressive: LaVie I agree with someone else who said that there needs to be a TND thread.

A little further down Third Street, Schlitz and Giggles is set to open in about 4 or 5 weeks I think. Still further down Third Street (but before the Wine Loft), the M Bar is supposed to open in early September. I drove by both places over the weekend. Both appeared to have active renovation efforts (i.e., not just a "coming soon" sign, but actual construction). These places should be very nice additions to third street. Of course, openening in a year or so should be the "Stroube's Chop House" (or whatever they end up naming it). From what little info that has been released, it looks like a large component of this new restaurant will be an upscale second floor/outdoor terrace bar. Assuming they do this restaurant right, I think it will be the final component that makes Third Street what we all seem to hope it will be.

Thanks for posting this. I was really curious to get an idea of what the inside of this place would look like. I drove past there last weekend. The doors were open and it looked like they were doing some work. Couldn't really get a good look inside. Glad you posted the picture. Speaking of, how did you get these pictures? I plan on trying out this place very close to opening night. I hope its nice, yet not too pretentious.

It looks to me like this would have to be the surface parking lot that is bordered by Florida, Lafayette, Laurel and River Road. That lot is about 1.5 acres.

The following quote from The Advocate has me encouraged. I looked at the website for Beluga in Orlando and was very impressed. Prime steaks, seafood, and a hip, modern atmosphere with what appears to be a more prominent bar than the average restaurant. If this new restuarant models itself after Beluga, I will be very excited. Beluga website: Beluga Four years and 150 prospective tenants later, Commercial Properties Development Corp. announced this morning that Capital City Grill owner Rick Volland will open an as-yet-unnamed restaurant in the former Stroube

I am thrilled that this restaurant will be a steakhouse. I only hope that the new owners do it right. People expect a lot out of a steakhouse. The steaks at this place need to be at least as good, if not better than Chris' or Flemmings. If the steaks are that good, the restaurant will succeed (and flourish). I worry that Capitol City Grill has no experience with top quality steaks. If they simply try to use there current recipes and cooking techniques for the steaks at this new place, it will fail miserably. I hope they know that this new restaurant has to be completely new. They can't just copy large parts from Capitol City Grill and slap a more expensive price tag on it. Having said that, I would love to have an independent but still top quality steakhouse. Brennan's did it in N.O. Maybe this restaurant can do it here. "Another element of the plan at the Shaw Center calls for converting the long-abandoned Stroube's Building on the corner of Third Street and North Boulevard into a New York-style steakhouse. Capital City Grill owner Rick Volland will own and run the establishment, which will have a bar indoors as well as on the second-floor terrace. The tentative name of the restaurant is Stroube's Chop House, in recognition of the historic building in which it will be located. "Basically it's going to be an upscale but casual steakhouse/chop house," Volland says. "We'll have a lot of booths with rich, dark wood."

I would really love to go to the one today, but work will keep me from going as well.

The Grove is trying to get access to the new I-10 frontage road that runs between Bluebonnet and Seigen: "At least three major property owners along Interstate 10 are hoping for some traffic adjustments between Siegen Lane and Bluebonnet Boulevard that will help their businesses..." "...Carmouche of Carmouche Construction Co. is developing The Grove, which he describes as a high-density TND. While not getting the access point won

Any idea where the Kona Grill will be located? Anyone have any experience with this restaurant/know how good they are?

I know this has been talked about in a few other threads, but this development looks big enough to warrant its own thread: "The Planning Commission approved last night The Grove, a high-density traditional neighborhood development near the Picardy Avenue extension. The development will go before the Metro Council next month for final approval. Developer Richard Carmouche is hoping to tie the development directly into the Picardy extension. City-parish officials support his plans to get access to the interchange, and the state Department of Transportation and Development favors the idea in theory. The next step is for engineers from the city-parish and DOTD to work out a plan for one or more access points, which they would present to the Federal Highway Administration, a DOTD spokesman says. Plans are to have 800 condo units, two hotels, 225,000 square feet of retail (mainly service businesses targeting residents), 300,000 square feet of office space and 50,000 square feet of restaurants. For a look at renderings of the development and where it is in relation to the Mall of Louisiana" Artist rendering I wanted to post the above linked picture directly into my post but I don't know how. If someone else knows how, please do.

Thats some impressive work. I love the way River Place and City Plaza II look. Is that google sketchup file a file that can be emailed or is it something you can post a link to?

Emminent domain. Take the damn land. There are not many instances where emminent domain is more appropriate.

Does anyone know if this brochure is available online?

I agree that putting those shot spotter cameras downtown should be a top priority. Further, police should be instructed that an activation of the system requires an absolutely immediate (less than one minute) response time. Any escalation of crime downtown could really hurt downtowns revitalization chances. This must be nipped in the bud before it gets started.

I agree. It would not take too much more money to raise the quality of the bands that perform at FestForAll. I have never heard of most of the bands that currently perform there. I think if a slightly larger investment is made to attract quality bands, FestForAll could explode in popularity.

Does anyone have any idea what the expected completion date is for the Kress, Levy, & Welsh building?

Thanks for the congratulations. Yes the Heidelberg (10th floor) ballroom is kind of pricey. However, both me and the fiance are big fans of the downtown revitalization. Having everything downtown was kind of a no brainer. I agree the Hotel King would/will be a great compliment to the Hilton. I only wish it would be open a year from now. As best I can tell, it does look like Daniel's bill to provide for a tiff for the Hotel King and EBRATS building was passed by both the house and senate. Hopefully this will get the ball rolling on the Hotel King: http://www.legis.state.la.us/billdata/Hist...mp;billid=HB849

I agree with you byrde. I am actually getting married next summer and the reception will be at the Hilton. Custom says that if you are going to provide your guests with a luxury hotel to stay in (Hilton), you should also provide a more budget hotel. There is currently no budget hotel anywhere near downtown. However, I also agree with richyb83. The EBRATS building does not seem like the best place for this proposed hotel. As richyb83 points out, I think that building would be better as an office or government building.

I would really like to see the renovation get started for this hotel. Can anyone even speculate as to what the completion date might be?

Am I reading that excerpt wrong? It looks to me like they are talking about the Wal-Mart on bluebonnet, but also talking about a wal mart at the property on Fith at Laurel? After looking at it again, it looks like they are just stating that they will generally discuss the demolision of the property? Any ideas what they will do with the property on Fith and Laurel?

http://www.businessreport.com/archives/daily-report/latest/ This could really help downtown. A super walmart would really jump start all of the upcoming residential lofts and things like the River Place condo's.

Just found this link to a power point presentation of the Town Square (look for the "North Boulevard Town Square" link near the top of the page, also, see the power point presentation on the 19th JDC courthouse: http://brgov.com/dept/ddd/default.asp